1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a backlight assembly and a display device having the same. More particularly, the present invention relates to a backlight assembly and a display device having improved image display quality by preventing or reducing dark fields from being exhibited on an external appearance of the display device.
2. Description of the Related Art
A liquid crystal display (“LCD”) device in flat display devices displays an image using electrical and optical characteristics of a liquid crystal (“LC”). The LCD device has a thin and lightweight structure, a low power consumption, a low operational voltage, etc., compared to other display devices. Therefore the LCD device has been widely used in various industries.
The LCD device includes an LCD panel for displaying an image using a light transmissivity of the LC, and a backlight assembly for supplying a light to the LCD panel.
The backlight assembly employed in the LCD device may be classified as either an edge illumination type backlight assembly or a direct illumination type backlight assembly in accordance with positions of a light source for emitting the light.
The edge illumination type backlight assembly includes a lamp for emitting light, a light-guiding plate having a side face that faces the lamp, and a container for receiving the lamp and the light-guiding plate. The light emitted from the lamp is incident to the side face of the light-guiding plate. The light-guiding plate guides a path of the light to transmit the light to the LCD panel.
The direct illumination type backlight assembly includes a plurality of lamps arranged under the LCD panel, a container for receiving the lamps, a diffusion plate placed over the lamps, and a reflection plate positioned under the lamps. Light emitted from the lamps is diffused through the diffusion plate and is then incident to the LCD panel.
The direct illumination type backlight assembly further includes a lamp support for supporting each of the lamps. The lamp support has a cylindrical shaped support surface corresponding to an external cylindrical shape of the lamps. The cylindrical shape of the lamp support includes an opening to receive the lamp and thus resembles a U-shaped hook. Thus, the U-shaped hook of the lamp support partially covers each of the lamps. Typically, a contact region between the lamp support and each of the lamps is a wide surface area.
Since the contact region entails a wide surface area, heat generated in each of the lamps is thermally conducted to the lamp support through the contact region. As the heat is thermally conducted through the contact region, a temperature of each of the lamps is locally decreased. However, the local decrease of the temperature in the lamps causes dark fields that are exhibited on an external appearance of the LCD device. The dark fields deteriorate image display quality.